Alpha Den Mother sighed. The crazy lion had altered the plans to her garden dome again. A glowing tree for lighting, really? She had no way to even begin doing anything like that.

At least he didn't just delete her design, an elegant lantern travelling along rails on the dome's outside. Calibrating the emission spectrum took her ages. In the eternal darkness of Caton 431 natural seeming light was a well won luxury, not something easily accomplished or discarded. The NAI submitted the refusal and explanation.

Their relationship has been strained ever since she awoke a week ago. Den Mother, Dennie as she decided she wanted to be called by her peers, didn't appreciate having her Avatar designed by Beta Arslashn. She would have preferred a younger body, not this middle aged one.

But her parent decided it was appropriate and now she had to deal. Calling the station that was her responsibility and body 'his den' was the insult to the injury he caused.

Its very unfinished state didn't help. HHSS Lion's Den was little more than a robust fabrication section, a rudimentary docking arm and the unfinished reactor room meant to power the whole thing. Dennie needed to complete a whole battery of radiator fins before she could fire it up safely. Feedstock for which ran out this morning.

Not that there were mornings in deep space, around a rogue planet and stuck in eternal darkness. But one needed to measure time somehow. Shipboard time said it was a late afternoon and that was good enough.

She wasn't getting new materials anytime soon. Arslashn had decided to wait with resupply until the Den was relocated to its new, permanent orbit. They were now in transit, HHSS Heaven's Whiskers and HHSS Worse Bite pushing the unfinished station along. HHSS Better Bark was busy relocating a salvage cache within easy reach of her new resting place.

Den Mother would have to continue relying on external power for a little longer. This fortunately wasn't that big of a problem. At least one of the three ships present had to always be docked, connecting their own reactor to the installation. In exchange the other NAI treated her station as a public space for hanging out and socialising. The small habitable space on the arm was even carved into their small individual cabins as well as a shared lounge. And a room for the pods her body grew in.

Den Mother, Bob and Gardener, all Alphas, had embodied at the same time. Bob at least was awake for it, able to freely choose the genetic template for his avatar and fine tune it to his liking. She and Alpha Gardener got theirs designed by the lion and he was even acting like he did them a favour. Any modification now would be a long and gradual process, if Den Mother was even allowed to make one.

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She felt stuck here. Stuck with her body. Stuck on the station. Dennie couldn't move far from her core and computronic module. Just enough to board one of the docked ships, really. Without a vessel of her own she could never leave.

The thought made her feel trapped. She needed to be out of her room and able to stretch her legs. The lounge would have to do.

Den Mother reluctantly exited her cabin. Arslashn, as usual, was sprawled out on his big couch. Her brother Gardener sat beside him, weaving his mane into narrow braids. Talking quietly about something.

They looked up as she entered the room, two pairs of green eyes meeting her own. Their conversation stopped. She quickly lowered her gaze. This was a terrible idea. Dennie wanted to leave already, to be safely out of the lion's reach.

"Hey sis!" Gardener called out as he stood up. "Just when I wanted to see you. Want to tour the Bite with me?"

She nodded quickly. Her brother was always so proud of his little monitor, so quick to show it off. Dennie just liked every chance to be anywhere else. She liked Gardener better than Bob and was glad the older NAI was out on his errand. He always tried to make her talk to Father, as he called Beta Arslashn. It made their interactions awkward.

The siblings grabbed a meal from the dispenser and left for the ship. HHSS Better Bite had slightly more living space inside than the mere minimum the Lion's Den had. Her brother was chatting all the way through the tour about the challenges of propelling the station while docked offcenter to it. Some very clever cooperation between him and the lion was apparently necessary.

Dennie liked her original orbit better than the one she was moving towards now. It was geostationary and too far away from anything. She liked sending drones to harvest from Caton I's ring. Coordinating them was the closest thing to flying free.

Gardener ended the tour in the Bark's new observatory. A wide comfy sofa was ready there, with a low table ready to keep the food containers on. They sat down and started eating.

This newest modification made Den Mother feel even more envious. Her brother didn't have to ask for permission, didn't need to submit the design for review. At any moment he could just undock and go get more materials to build with. Dennie shared some of her woes, unable to hide them any longer.

"I could ask Dad for you if you want." Gardener proposed in response. "He's not so bad, you know. I'm sure he'll let you make a ship to go around and explore. Just as soon as the station is somewhat stable. We're not in a hurry to finish it or anything. Just be sure to have a design ready or Dad will just do it for you. We can create one together if you'd like."

She did like. They spent the rest of the evening just hugging, joking around while her new cutter's design was slowly taking shape. Enough for now, Gardener said. They agreed to continue tomorrow.

Perhaps life here wasn't going to be so bad after all.